Prepping the toms

The picture at the top of the last post is not my set. That is just a picture I snatched so you can see what I'm talking about when I say "cocktail drumset".

Last night I stripped my spare tom toms down to the wood in prep for new hardware and wrap. One of these originally came with my standard drumset. That is a 1970 Pearl wood/fiberglass. The other is one I added later and it is amazing to see the decline in quality over ten years. Anyway, they are both very usable, but I will have to recover them. I was hoping to do a natural stain, but the surface of the wood is not good and there are holes to fill.

At this moment I am planning to reduce the depth of these shells (I did the math: a 36% reduction in each). I came up with that because I want them to stay proportional to their widths and to each other. I am considering leaving the bottom heads off to save money on hardware and so they will nest inside each other for easier transport. I'd like to get this all in one case.

The other shells and pedal are being shipped so in the meantime I'm planning on finishing the prep on these shells: plugging unnecessary holes and cutting them down. One of these will become the snare.

I went to a local music store that has a few boxes of parts behind the counter yesterday, but I couldn't find anything I need. I'm trying to do this "on the cheap" so if I can find anything used, in good condition and where no shipping charges are involved, then that's what I'll use. Right now I'm looking for floor tom legs and mounts. I think I'll need at least seven, three for the legs and two each for the tom and snare. I may need two more to mount cymbals and percussion, I'm still trying to figure out how to do that.

I'll try to get some pictures taken this weekend and include them in my next post.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Recently, I became interested in having a cocktail drum set because they are easy to transport and don't take up much room. The guitarist in my band has been talking about a percussion set up he saw at a concert that was actually a cocktail set, but he was having trouble describing it.

I started looking around for one and found that there aren't a lot of manufacturers making them anymore. No surprise, they are an artifact of an earlier time. Yamaha has a beauty called Club Jordan. It has a beauty of a price too. $2000+! Not going there. I looked on eBay and saw some basic sets for around $250+shipping. Now that's more like it, but it was hard to tell what the quality was. This set will get used and I don't want something that will fall apart easily.

Looking around the internet, I found http://www.cocktaildrum.com/. This site has everything you ever wanted to know and more about these kind of drums. I read the construction section and got a little inspired to try building one myself. I have intermediate woodworking skills and the right tools, so it is a possibility.

What really cinched it for me was this: I went to a local music store that I like (not one of the chains) and asked if they had any or ever got any CDS in. The kid behind the counter had no clue what I was talking about. On the way out my build or buy decision was made.

Over the weekend I bought a 16 X 16 shell and a 10 X 16 shell on eBay. They weren't too expensive (except for shipping). I also bought a bass drum pedal that I will convert to a reverse pedal so it will hit the bass drum up from underneath. I intend to join the two shells to make one that is 26 inches deep. I already have two smaller toms that I can use along with the ones I bought. I will make one a snare. Also I can borrow cymbals from my main set and I have some spare cymbal stands I can use to mount them.

Next time I'll include some pictures of the parts and pieces when I get them all together. I'll probably start making the snare this week while I'm waiting for the shells and pedal.